Paris (AFP)

Not counted, the government draws its overhaul of the pension system with the presentation Thursday by Edouard Philippe of the "calendar" and the "method" of this flammable reform on the eve of a day of blockage in Paris transport.

Eager not to rush the French and provoke a new spark, after having hardly calmed the crisis of "yellow vests", Edouard Philippe intends to "explain" and "reassure" Thursday on the ambitions of the government in terms of pensions, then stand out several days of mobilization against this reform.

After the release in mid-July of the report of High Commissioner Jean-Paul Delevoye, which serves as a basis for discussions, and the reception last week of the social partners to clear the ground, Mr. Philippe chose Thursday a two-step strategy to pass on his messages.

It will first deliver a speech to the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), that is to say the assembly of intermediate bodies (employers, unions, associations ...). A stratum of society that had felt mistreated and with which the executive intends to resume under the act 2 of the quinquennium.

Emmanuel Macron also took care to receive Monday at the Elysee the boss of the CFDT Laurent Berger - become the preferred interlocutor among the social partners - before meeting with Laurent Escure (UNSA) Thursday morning.

"The spirit is the one that prevails since the beginning of the act 2: openness and dialogue", it is argued to Matignon where it is stated that "the choice of place is not trivial."

"This is a signal to show that it is not only to Matignon that the future law will be reflected and written," says one still.

Edouard Philippe will then speak at 8:00 pm on TF1 TV news to address "all French" to "reassure, explain the ambition of reform", "to make pedagogy" on a subject "that speaks to all and who is also extremely complicated, "says one in the entourage of the Prime Minister.

In particular, the Prime Minister will have to clarify the point concerning the retirement age, after a scramble at the head of the executive.

- Calls to strike -

Mr Delevoye's report recommends a limit of 64 years to receive a full pension. But Macron said at the end of August, to everyone's surprise, his preference for a modulation according to the duration of contribution, rather than age.

On the calendar, Edouard Philippe believes that 2020 is "the right moment" to deal with this issue, a campaign promise Emmanuel Macron, which aims to merge into a single point system the 42 existing regimes, by 2025.

Several questions are pending: when will the bill be drafted, presented to the Council of Ministers, examined in Parliament and voted? At what rate and up to what date will the transition, infinitely complex, between the old and the new system take place?

In the wake of the great national debate, the executive has also promised "citizen consultations", hoping to involve the French in the reform.

The duration of this consultation has not yet been set, even though the Minister of Public Accounts, Gérald Darmanin, spoke of a "one-year" phase. It seems unlikely that the bill will be unveiled before the municipal elections of March 2020, even if Unsa as the Medef and the CPME have expressed their wish to see the file reach the earliest in 2020.

As for the form of these consultations, the piloting, and the taking into account of their conclusions, they remain very vague. But he was not sure that Philippe offers more details on Thursday.

These announcements precede days of call to strike in dispersed order.

The expected black Friday in Paris transport will be followed Monday at the initiative of the National Council of Bars, lawyers, airline pilots, stewards and hostesses, but also some nurses and doctors, a demonstration in Paris to defend their diets .

Force Ouvrière plans a rally on 21 September in Paris, when the CGT, Solidaires and Sud-Rail will march together on 24 September.

© 2019 AFP